It's Only Fair
by BiteWorseThanBark
Summary: That was how Mephiles justified his most heinous action; his orchestration of what was to be the biggest blot in Shadow's life. A oneshot for eternal1990 that is a fresh new spin on the fateful day when everything went wrong on the ARK.


A/N: This is a oneshot for eternal1990 that is loooong overdue. For this, I must apologise to her profusely. However, if I'm completely honest, this is definitely for the best. My writing has vastly improved since the last two years of school-filled hell that this was supposed originally to be conceived.

In any case… here are some things for you to take heed of, dearest readers:

First of all, Mephiles has a severe god complex. He's extremely conceited and narcissistic of the fact that he and Iblis are two halves of the same god and will thusly refer to the both of them with a capitalised He. My sincerest apologies if anybody finds this offensive.

Second, since this is the adventure of a younger Mephiles, there will be some things he has not learned about yet (exercise equipment, control panels, and telephones to name a few). He is also still feeling rather raw and vulnerable about his days of experimentation in Soleanna's underwater lab (aka: his separation from Iblis), despite the passing of decades. However, you will be pleased to note, dear readers, that he is still a devious little shit despite his 'youth'.

Lastly, the events mentioned as being the early years of Iblis' fiery domination of the world are complete BS, but I figure that's okay, seeing as Mephiles screws with time enough anyways.

Now, without further ado, I present to you:

* * *

**It's Only Fair**

* * *

_The circumstances concerning my meeting with Maria Robotnik were accidental…_

_It was the seventh year since Iblis brought divine punishment upon this world, and my destructive half had already migrated roughly a quarter of the way across the globe; bringing about fiery deaths to all that were stupid or unlucky enough to be in His path. However, if it were me in His position, this whole world would have been mine within days. _

_But I digress; this is not the case, since I am the intelligent half of Solaris, while Iblis is the destructive. Clearly, we are perfect when combined, but flawed when apart._

_While Iblis had been slowly laying waste to the world, I contented myself with observing the drawn out battle fought between my hated enemy, Shadow the hedgehog, and his former ally, the robot E-123 Omega. From what I had gathered over the year that this event took place, G.U.N, the military force the pair were working for, reprogrammed the robot and sent it to capture or kill Shadow. The two played a very deadly and amusing game of cat and mouse during this timeframe. But the end result was of Shadow losing and having his broken and bloody body dragged back to the military base to be put into stasis._

_I am still jealous of the robot to this day, but pleased that Shadow was betrayed by his comrade._

_Oh, I do so love a good back-stab._

_My apologies, I am getting off track from my tale._

_Now where was I? Ah, yes. Now I remember…_

_Shortly after Shadow was placed in stasis, I had decided that it would be fruitful to hone my time travelling abilities._

_At first I only travelled a few minutes back in time, as both a precaution and an experiment of how much skill I truly possessed. Soon though, I grew bolder; leaping backwards first hours, and then years. And through countless hours of practice, my time-jumping abilities had improved vastly. So much so that I could jump _decades_ behind, and later ahead, from whenever I was._

_One night (If one could call it that. Nights in Crisis City are almost as bright as the days because of the constant fires.), curiosity coupled with, I am ashamed to admit, a hint of idiocy, led me to ponder a self-posed question: _How was Shadow's life before he sealed me inside the Scepter of Darkness?

_Thoughts of learning more of my hated enemy excited me, but not nearly as much so as the thought of disrupting his life before our initial meeting. _

_I know now that interfering with the flow of time can, and will, cause disturbances later in said timeline. Paradoxes being the main problem, and one that I am certain I have caused on more than one occasion…_

_It was with barely contained excitement that I formed a small ball of swirling dark energy in one hand, thinking of my destination._

'Take me to Shadow the hedgehog's past.'

_Never until that moment had I ever been so vague with where I wished to be transported. _

_Until that time, I had always specifically stated how far I wished to leap back to, and did not realize until my return to my 'present' how lucky it was that I was not tossed somewhere hazardous to me (There are few such things, but it is always best to be cautious.)._

_With excitement akin to that of a human child's, I leapt through the time portal, eager to see how the so-called 'Ultimate Lifeform' had lived out his early days._

* * *

My feet landed solidly against a metal surface, the _thonk_ sound from this action reverberating up my legs and echoing around me dully. Naturally curious, I glanced about, noting that there was not all that much to see. My surroundings consisted solely of an almost impregnable darkness, which was broken only by long metal struts, similar to the one I was standing on. Their surfaces were lit by tiny but somewhat bright lights built into their sides.

All in all, rather boring scenery.

'_This cannot really be where Shadow lived out his early days… There must be more to this place.' _I told myself, striding forward along the strut I was standing upon. For the first three minutes, there was nothing but the surrounding darkness and the other struts looming from it like shiny glowing fingers of silver. By the end of this third minute, I could make out what appeared to be a door at the end of my strut.

"About time." I grumbled, hoping that whatever was beyond the door would be more exciting than my current surroundings. My strides lengthened with eagerness. Soon enough, I was close enough to touch its smooth, featureless surface.

Before I could wonder how to open this marvel, the door did just that.

It abruptly _swooshed_ open with a faint hissing sound like compressed air, startling me enough to elicit a grunt in surprise and to jump backwards, an orb of churning darkness in each hand; ready for whatever nasty little surprises this door or whatever was lurking beyond it had in store for me.

After about five seconds of giving the empty open doorway a stare-down, the thing _swooshed_ back closed, causing me to flinch in surprise. Further staring at the now closed door made me realize that there were no hidden dangers as I had first thought, making me feel like quite the imbecile.

Pride stinging, and growling with annoyance as a result, I stomped forward and through the door, this time unflinching.

Beyond the door was a blinding brightness.

Used to the dimness of the previous room, I hissed with a startling likeness to a provoked cat and shielded my eyes until my vision adjusted properly. Slowly, my arm dropped to my side, revealing what the initial brightness had before obscured. Stretching left and right was a plain white corridor with long floor to ceiling glass panes set into the far wall at regular intervals. These revealed a yawning chasm of soft darkness speckled with tiny twinkling lights of bright silver-white. My brow wrinkled in confusion at the sight. Just what was this place? And what was the light sprinkled darkness outside?

Deciding that further investigation would be fruitful, I turned towards the left side of the corridor and began walking in that direction. Every so often, the inner wall of the corridor had some kind of device built into it. Aside from those, the wall's white monotony was mostly broken by doors; the majority of which had some kind of small panel with buttons attached next to them.

How long I walked down the corridor I was unsure, but eventually it ended with another of those hissing automatic doors that I was _ever _so fond of. Although now used to the object, I still shot it a reproachful glare as I passed through to the other side. Awaiting me was yet another white hallway, no different from the one I had just exited with the exception of an open door halfway down. I entered of course, already bored senseless by the lack of interesting objects. And activity for that matter.

Speaking of activity, I figured there should be intelligent life of some sort in this strange place; it _was_ constructed after all. Shrugging to myself, I wandered to the door directly opposite the one I had just entered.

'_This area is probably forgotten or not often visited.' _I reasoned, stepping through the door as it opened. New scenery greeted my eyes. The room was small, tiny even, and one side was dominated by a giant pane of glass which ended just above a long metal rectangle with buttons of varying shapes and sizes set into its surface. Judging from the lack of glow from the buttons, the contraption was not on.

Behind the window of glass, which upon closer inspection was rather thick, was a considerably bigger room. This room was sterile white, just like the halls had been, with a single featureless door set into the left wall. It contained some kind of heavy equipment. Among this equipment were three poles of varied lengths surrounded by a cluster of circular tar coloured metal (Painted steel or iron, perhaps?) objects which were all sorts of sizes, but mainly on the large side. There were various metal constructed contraptions lying scattered about the room, but the purpose of all of these objects was lost on me.

Shrugging, I headed for a door set into the wall opposite the control panel and observation window. However, before I traversed even halfway there, the door opened with a hiss.

"… Shadow?"

Eyes widening with shock and fear, I stumbled back from the presence in the doorway.

'_Human!'_

At once, the awful memory of Soleanna's underwater lab reared its ugly head.

**Still raw from being ripped in two. Scary hollow feeling.**

'_**Iblis, where are you?'**_

**No response. **

**Small. Too small. And alone.**

**Hulking monsters outside with clipboards. Excited murmuring. **_**Scritch scratch**_** of pens on paper. Scared. So scared. Curled up to block out the monsters and their torture implements. **

**Zapping. Prodding. Burning. Hurt. Pain.**

'_**Help me! Please!'**_

The human: young, female and blonde, crouched before me. She was garbed entirely in blue, which matched her wide, innocent eyes.

"Shadow…?" She repeated hesitantly.

Conflicting emotions of fear and annoyance kept me pinned in place.

I couldn't back away from the girl because I was irked at being mistaken for the object of my hatred. Conversely, I was much too frightened to sneer at, and berate her, for her mistake.

The girl squinted at me and frowned in puzzlement. "Wait… you aren't Shadow."

"Of course I am not!" I snapped, finally regaining both my voice and my wits.

The girl's eyes widened in surprise at my minor outburst. "Oh. Um… sorry. It's just that you just look so much like him that you could practically be twins."

Since I had copied Shadow's form, I supposed that she wasn't too far from the mark.

"So who are you, anyway?" The girl asked curiously, crouching to my level and fixing her bright blue eyes with my own green. I eyed her up and down, assessing her threat level. It seemed non-existent since she was such a frail little thing. Still, a certain measure of caution was needed.

"Mephiles," I revealed, deciding to omit my self-proclaimed title 'the Dark' in order to make myself appear less threatening. Catching her off-guard when I went to kill her would be much easier that way.

A bright, pleasant smile lit up her doll-like features. "Pleased to meet you, Mephiles. I'm Maria."

Maria, hm? That sounded as innocent as she looked.

"Likewise." I said smoothly, not at all meaning it.

The girl rested her chin on a fist. "So, what are you doing here on the ARK, Mephiles? Are you another of my grandfather's creations?" she asked, cocking her head.

I stared back blankly since I hadn't the faintest clue as to what she was talking about.

What was an ARK? Was it this place?

Noting my evident confusion, Maria frowned. "You aren't from around here, are you?"

"No," I answered with a slight shake of the head. "I am not."

Her frown deepened. "Then what are you doing here? How did you get on board?"

The urge to snap at her to mind her own business was strong, but I reined it in. If I did that then she would immediately grow suspicious, so instead I shrugged.

"I just did. Leave it at that."

Maria obviously wished to pursue the matter, yet she kept her mouth shut. I was both thankful and disappointed that she had. After all, it is not often that I get to exercise my wit and truth bending skills on others. Iblis is not the best candidate for that, as He flies into a destructive rage at the slightest thing that displeases or confounds Him.

"Well," the blonde stood, brushing imaginary dust from her dress, "since you're here, would you like a tour? It gets awfully dull here most days."

The gears of my mind whirred quickly. She had said Shadow's name; which meant that they were connected. Friends, perhaps? At any rate, if I allowed her to guide me I was confident that I would meet the hedgehog in question, so I accepted her proposition.

Her face brightened. "Oh, wonderful! Come on then."

Before I could comprehend what was happening, the girl had grasped my hand and was already tugging me along. My hackles immediately rose.

**Touch. Prod. Poke. **

'_**Stop. Please stop!'**_

**Agonised writhing. Trying desperately to pull the pieces together.**

**Zap. Burn.**

'_**Please, leave me alone!'**_

**Hands. So many hands bringing so much torment.**

**Screaming at them to stop. Over and over and over again…**

"Mephiles, are you okay?"

With a jerk, I was released from the memory. I stared about wildly; waiting for one of those damned scientists to materialize.

Thankfully, the only human in the room was Maria.

Said girl fixed me with a look of immense concern. "Are you okay?" she repeated.

Wordlessly, I nodded. I was still rather shaky, but that would pass quickly. I was used to the nightmarish episodes by now.

Maria opened her mouth, presumably to ask about my earlier actions.

"Don't." I snapped with a glare. This was not something I needed.

"But-"

A low growl rumbled from me. It was a strange but nonetheless frightening sound; like the earthquake marking the arrival of an Iblis Worm. Maria seemed to get the message and closed her mouth. The growl died.

'_Good brat.' _

I strode ahead of her, eager for some distance. To my annoyance, she easily closed the gap between us in a few strides. The height difference between humans and mobians can be somewhat of an inconvenience at times.

"Um… this way leads outside." Maria spoke up.

My pace slowed as my interest piqued. "Outside? To that soft, speckled darkness?"

A grin split the girl's face. "You mean space? Wow. You really aren't from around here!"

"Yes, I believe that we have already established that," was my sarcastic response. Yet, my interest in space was not quelled by my annoyance. In fact, it grew. "… Tell me more about 'space'."

"Sure," chirped Maria. "What would you like to know?" A small smirk twisted my muzzle. Well, since she was so eager to divulge information, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity.

"Tell me everything you know."

So she did.

We walked side by side down numerous endless white hallways, and she told me of many strange and wonderful new things. There were asteroids and stars and black holes… Milkyways and galaxies and planets unlike the one I had just left; Earth was its name. I was absolutely enthralled by this new knowledge, and Maria seemed pleased at my keen interest in all of what she had to say.

"And this manmade contraption we are inside," I said, gesturing about us. "What is it?"

"This is the Space Colony ARK," said the blond, still perky despite talking for so long. "This is where my grandfather, Professor Gerald, and I live."

"You were born here?" I asked, astonished. Maria shook her head, her smile a sad one.

"No, actually. I was born on Earth, but I had to move up here because of my disease."

She was diseased? Wondering what ailment she had, I raised an eye ridge at her as an indication to continue. Thankfully, she was still willing to share more information.

"It's called Neuro-Immune Dysfunction Syndrome or NIDS for short. The branch I'm infected with affects me physically rather than mentally." Her smile became strained. "Apparently, the reason they moved me up here is because the air being used is specially purified; less aggravating to my immune system. The idea is that it will allow me to live a little longer so that my grandfather can produce a cure."

"It sounds as though your existence here is oft times painful."I stated. "Full of suffering."

'_Perhaps I should end this suffering for you.' _

That thought was obviously kept private.

Maria uttered a quiet laugh. "It can be at times. Not to mention lonely… But, things are far better now that grandfather has created Shadow." The doll of a child then proceeded to gush over how wonderful that loathsome hedgehog was.

As annoying as the one-sided conversation was, I was thankful that it was cut short. Even if it was by the creature being discussed; the one I hated with all of my being.

"Maria?"

The voice, although far less gruff, was undeniably Shadow's.

As the human girl turned towards the sound of his voice, I became one with the nearest patch of darkness, speaking quietly to her one final time before becoming a mere silent observer.

"Do not speak of my presence."

"Huh? Wha-?"

"Maria!" Shadow repeated, turning into the passage we occupied. "There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere." There was a strong dose of concern in his voice, confirming my belief that these two were indeed in a friendly relationship. A frown then settled onto the dark hedgehog's muzzle. "Who were you talking to?"

"Ah…! N-nobody." Stuttered the human. "I was just thinking aloud."

She had done as instructed. Sensible girl.

The so-called 'Ultimate Lifeform' frowned but did not press the matter. "In any case, dinner is ready. I trust you're hungry?"

Maria nodded. "Yes. I'm starving."

"Good. Let's go." He took her tiny frail hand in his own larger gloved one and they walked away.

The girl tossed a final glance at my last position before the pair turned the corner.

Shadow, too, had peered behind himself, albeit in a more discreet manner. The stiff set of his shoulders suggested he could sense something- namely myself- was amiss.

Good. Let him be unsettled.

* * *

I followed the pair through the shadows as they wound through a multitude of passageways. There were so many it was a marvel that they did not once get lost. But I digress.

Finally, they reached their destination. It was a massive room filled with humans congregated around many tables, stuffing their faces with food. Quite the disgustingly fascinating sight.

The pair joined a queue which, upon closer inspection, was where the food was being served. The fact that Shadow was given a rather wide berth was not lost on me. In all honesty, I believe that small observation was what first set the gears of my scheming into motion.

Hopping through shadows (The bitter irony of my power being connected to that loathsome hedgehog is something that still does not escape me to this day…), I tailed Maria and Shadow until they seated at an empty table. They chattered the entire time, the only lulls in conversation created by the girl's pauses to eat. Shadow only ate a piece of red fruit- an apple, if memory serves. It was probably for her benefit more than anything.

Towards the end of their meal, a rather robust figure with prominent facial hair approached the table. Jovial pleasantries and embraces were exchanged between Maria and the newcomer, who was quickly identified as her grandfather. Strangely, he bore a remarkable likeness to a certain fat imbecile. Family relations, perhaps?

The conversation was a short one, and before parting, the man instructed Shadow to meet him at some numbered room or another for tests. Had I a proper body at that point, I would have shivered. From my experience, tests are truly awful things; _excruciatingly_ painful to one's mental and physical health. I think I would hesitate to put even Shadow through one. However, the hedgehog in question seemed to take the news in stride, without so much as a flinch.

Masochist.

Maria finished her meal shortly after the robust man's departure then parted ways with the hedgehog with a promise to meet the next day. I followed her to what must have been her sleeping quarters and rematerialised behind her once the door hissed shut. "Thank you for your confidentiality."

She startled at the sound of my voice, whirling in place to face me with a hand clutching above her heart. "Mephiles?" She squeaked. "Oh gosh, you scared me! Please don't do that again!"

The question was batted aside in favour of another subject. "You appear to be rather close to that hedgehog." The girl frowned at my evasion of the topic of her fright, but nonetheless confirmed the truth of my statement.

"Shadow? Of course. He's my best friend."

"Hm… Is that so?"

The gears were turning faster. This was even better than anticipated.

"My sincerest apologies for my abrupt behaviour," I lied, tone silky. "This day has been a long one."

Maria's suspicion melted into concern. "Would you like to take my bed and rest for a while, then?"

My, this girl is so naïve it borders on idiocy.

"No thank you. I believe I will take a stroll to clear my head."

Rather, I believe I will search for more information about the situation here.

I had overheard an intriguing piece of information during meal time that I wished to follow up on. Somebody had mentioned an upcoming maintenance inspection from G.U.N was fast approaching. Since this was the backstabbing organization that Shadow would work for in the future, I figured that I could find a way to twist this visit to my advantage.

Maria waved me off, chirping a goodbye as I left. Once out of her line of sight, I began to travel through the shadows. I had seen vents set close to the ceiling in many locations and knew that slithering my shadowy mass through them would eventually lead to clusters of conversing humans. This proved factual early into my exploration. Unfortunately, the humans I had initially spied on were more interested in gossip amongst their peers than anything to do with G.U.N, Shadow, Maria or her grandfather. I moved on.

The next pair of humans were no better. Nor were the pair after them.

It was the next group that yielded information of interest.

"-can't believe the Professor lets it just _roam_ about like it owns the place."

"It makes his granddaughter happy..."

"Screw her happiness! I don't want to die because of some brat's infatuation with that little monster."

It required little effort to piece together who the brat and the monster were.

Another cold trail followed. Then, more light was shed on the logistics of Maria and Shadow's relationship. Apparently, Shadow was created in the hopes that his advanced genetics might one day be used to cure the girl's disease. Further listening eventually yielded more; that Shadow was rumoured to be a weapon of mass destruction. There were also a few fleeting whispers that the Professor, Gerald, was showing increasing signs of mental instability.

Which left me the final and most crucial piece of the puzzle to connect: G.U.N. It was also the part which took significantly longer to find out about. And all it took was an accidental turn after innumerable hours of listening to the useless blather of interwork relationships.

The harsh whispers of the two conversing made me stop and listen.

The speakers, both male and donning lab coats, were sitting back to back in front of devices I would much later learn were computer terminals.

"I just… I can't do this anymore!"

"Keep it together, man."

"No!" yelled the human closest to my hiding spot. Then in a far quieter tone, "All these secrets… All these… these… _abominations_ the Professor keeps having us create… they're dangerous."

Enraptured, I slithered ever so slightly closer.

Yelling man continued to talk. "It's only a matter of time before G.U.N finds out- and mark my words, they _will_- and kills us all!"

"They won't," soothed the less hysterical one. "So long as everyone keeps quiet- which they will- we won't die."

With that, the final piece in the puzzle had clicked together. It was simply a matter of figuring out how to execute my plan. I was exalted at the prospect and wished to set things into motion soon. All I needed was to wait for the opportune moment…

That moment came late into the next day.

* * *

Whilst tailing Maria, who was searching all over the ARK for me, since I had not made my presence known to her since last night, she happened to pass a scientist in the one of the innermost halls. There was a device set into the wall next to him, different from the numerous others I had come across. There was something pressed to his ear that was connected to the device. Maria passed the scientist by without a second glance. I stayed behind, listening to the man's one-sided conversation. Some choice words I picked up from it were G.U.N, inspection, and some date that I assumed was close. After thanking whoever he was talking to, the scientist placed the thing near his ear onto a cradle built into the object it was connected to and walked away.

After he turned the corner, I checked both ends of the corridor, counting to sixty before deeming it safe to reconstruct my physical body. The talking device was set high above my pint-sized mobian body. However, reaching it posed no problem. A partial transformation of my arm worked wonders for the height difference, and I was cradling the smaller part of the talking device up for inspection. There were two ends, slightly bigger and square-shaped, both with a number of small holes punched into them. I held the object to my ear as the human had. A dull, constant beeping was emitted from it. Extending my legs enough to see the box part of the device, I saw a double barred strip of light set above numbered buttons. The top line had _Main Office press 1_ scrolling slowly across it. The second was similar but did not scroll due to its smaller size.

_G.U.N press 2_

A triumphant smirk curled my muzzle upwards.

Now I was ready to implement my plan.

* * *

It happened that very night, when the lights were dimmed and the stars winked brighter outside the floor to ceiling windows. I had not moved far from the talking device, holing up in a nearby vent and keeping it well within sight until the last yawning human shuffled by, off to bed.

Once she was gone, I left my temporary sanctuary and approached the device. I extended my legs to a more functional height and unhooked the double ended part. The 2 button was immediately jabbed. After a brief pause, the beeping changed in tone. Not even a second later, a disembodied voice spoke to me in gruff tones. "Yes?"

One token second of startledness elapsed before my reply was issued. "I have information that you will find most valuable."

"Oh?" the voice said. I could hear the interested tone under the false casual façade.

"Yes," I had replied with equal casualness. "I believe biological weapons of mass destruction are a matter that your group addresses."

A beat of silence.

"… You are correct. This is a matter we will address immediately."

"I look forward to it." I purr.

The talking device was slipped back into its cradle and my body became one with the shadows moments before a sleepy scientist staggered by.

The wait was extraordinarily short. A mere couple of hours had transpired before alarms and flashing lights of red were activated. The gruff man really had not been kidding when he said the threat would be addressed immediately…

Soon, screaming humans were flooding the hall. Some of them sported darkened stains on their clothing. Others were trampled and lay unmoving long after the stampede had passed. Those humans leaked. And when the armoured humans appeared, the figure that struck down their comrades before them, spurring thoughts of revenge, only looked like Shadow.

It was a glorious thing, strolling through the ARK's once white halls to observe the carnage I had unleashed.

But the best moment by far had to be shooting the girl. The human guise I had donned to do so was pure genius in my opinion. And the haunted look in her fading blue eyes told me that somehow she knew that it was I at the opposite end of the barrel.

* * *

_Ah, yes… A fine gift for Shadow._

_Too far? I do not believe so._

_After all, he did make my own life miserable, so this eye for an eye business is only fair, is it not?_


End file.
